Wada is to investigate doping claims made about Russian athletes at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/REUTERS

The World Anti-Doping Agency has opened an investigation into allegations of Russian doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Wada will look into claims, broadcast by CBS 60 Minutes in the United States on Sunday, that numerous Russian athletes used performance-enhancing drugs at the Winter Games. The Wada president, Sir Craig Reedie, said: “Wada will probe these new allegations immediately.”

Russia’s track and field athletes are the subject of a suspension which places their participation in the Rio Olympics in doubt. The ban was imposed following a Wada-commissioned independent report into allegations of drug use in athletics. And Wada is now looking into the latest claims, which Reedie described as “a real cause for concern”.

A Wada statement read: “On the basis of recorded conversations between [whistleblower] Vitaly Stepanov and the former Moscow laboratory director, Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, the broadcast claims that numerous Russian athletes were doped at Sochi; including four gold medallists that were using steroids.

“The broadcast also suggests that the Russian Federal Security Service interfered with the Games anti-doping program; including, some FSB agents having been employed as doping control officers. Wada has not yet been able to independently verify these allegations, but will now conduct further inquiries into the allegations without delay. This includes initiating the process to access the recorded conversations in which Dr Rocdhenkov aired his views, as cited in the programme.”

Reedie added: “Mr Rodchenkov was of course interviewed by Wada’s Independent Commission that exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics last year; yet, regrettably, he was not forthcoming with such information related to the Sochi Games. It is surprising to hear these views so many months after the commission concluded its work.”

Stepanov has said he nearly aborted his plan to expose widespread doping in Russian athletics when the Wada was slow to act on the information he provided them. Stepanov, who previously worked for Russia’s anti-doping agency, said he second-guessed himself countless times during a three-year stretch where information he fed to Wada did not lead to action.

“I was falling asleep and telling myself I am an idiot,” Stepanov told Reuters. “That was probably my thought a lot of times. Especially after each major competition that was my thought. What am I doing?”

“I was frustrated with myself,” said Stepanov, who is now living in an undisclosed location in the United States with his wife. “That was half of the time. The other half of the time there was hope Wada was looking for ways to deal with this issue and you have to be really patient. I thought the best I could do was provide the information and hope it was used for the right reason.”

Wada’s spokesman Ben Nichols responded by saying the agency acted as soon as it could. Before 2015, Wada did not have the authority to conduct its own investigations under the World Anti-Doping Code, according to Nichols.

Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, when asked about the alleged Wada inaction, said: “From a clean athlete prospective, it is really hard to stomach that they didn’t. It rattles confidence in the system.”

Tygart noted the Wada foundation board would meet in Montreal on Wednesday and Thursday. “One way or another future generations are going to look back at this as a defining moment in the fight for clean sport.” he added.

Reedie later acknowledged the role whistleblowers have had in exposing the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, while pointing to the increase in Wada’s powers in the last 18 months.

“There is no question that the Stepanovs provided vital information and intelligence that allowed the commission to be established; and, without which, widespread doping in Russian athletics may never have truly been exposed,” he said.

“What may have appeared as inaction reflected the fact that, until the revised World Anti-Doping Code came into effect on January 1, 2015, Wada did not have the power to conduct its own investigations. At the time, the agency was only able to collect information and pass it on to those that did have the power to investigate, in this case, the Russian authorities.

“Wada believes that passing the whistleblowers’ information on to the Russian authorities would not have resulted in the required scrutiny.”

Based on the Wada commission report, the International Association of Athletics Federations suspended Russian athletics from international competition, including the Rio Olympics. The IAAF council will decide on 17 June whether to reinstate Russia and allow its athletics team to compete in Rio. The council also is expected to take up the request by Stepanov’s wife Yuliya, who served a two-year doping ban, to compete in Rio.

Asked what Wada should do to clean up sport, Stepanov said: “Wada needs more people that believe in clean sport and fair competitions and less politicians. I think the system works if there are no corrupt people in it. Then it is a good system.”

Russia’s ministry of sport said on Monday since the revelations by the Stepanovs appeared in 2015, a full investigation has been carried out into activities by the Russian state and a “road map” had been agreed to with Wada to reform the anti-doping process.

“These efforts thus ensure the independence and transparency of doping control in Russia, which is fully supported by the state,” the ministry said in a statement.